The increase in popularity and sophistication of electronic devices, such as multimedia apparatus and the like, has increased dramatically over recent years. Such devices typically offer wide range of services to provide data, access data or manipulate data for the benefit of a user. For example, a home entertainment system may include a television, set top box, DVD player, MP3 player and a digital camera. Traditionally, these devices have been used independently, or connected together only in simple configurations, with the result that full exploitation of their services is limited. Several devices may provide compatible services so that potentially, one device could exploit the services of others, for example allowing digital TV to be recorded on the hard drive of a lap-top computer.
Typically, devices are networked to overcome this limitation using a gateway or server box acting as a master with each of the devices acting as slaves. However, such a system is prone to failure because when the master box fails, is switched off, or otherwise inoperative, the whole system loses functionality. In this case the functionality of an individual slave device may be lost until the master is switched on, replaced or repaired. Additionally, such a system may also require significant modification of current hardware to implement with difficult and complex set-up procedures.
In conventional networked systems, devices communicate with each other via the master which controls data routing between devices. This arrangement increases the complexity of data routing and may slow down the network. Additionally, while such a network may be capable of allowing transfer of data between devices, full manipulation of the services provided by one device, by another device, may not be possible. Furthermore, complete information relating to the full range of services available from within the network may not be easily accessible or even exist at all. This disadvantage reduces the accessibility and flexibility of the system.
We have appreciated that networking electronic devices, particularly multimedia devices in a home entertainment system provides greater flexibility and functionality of the services provided by the devices. We have further appreciated the need to provide a network which is straightforward to set up requiring few modifications of existing hardware. We have further appreciated the need for a robust network which can function even following the failure of one or more of its constituent devices. We have also appreciated the need to provide each device within the network with easily accessible and complete information as to what services are available from within the network. We have further appreciated that allowing a device to fully manipulate the services of another device provides greater flexibility to the network. We have also appreciated that allowing devices to communicate directly with each other without the need for an intermediate device provides for faster communication and a simpler network.